Disease outbreak kills endangered bonobos

A deadly outbreak of what appears to be flu is threatening a group of
bonobos in a sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Known also as pygmie chimpanzees,
bonobos live exclusively in the DRC and are listed as endangered
on the IUCN red list. Researchers put their total numbers somewhere between
29,500 and 50,000.

"Three days ago, there were 10 bonobos face-down in the building, breathing really hard," says Vanessa
Woods, a bonobo researcher at DukeUniversity in Durham, North Carolina,
who is currently at the sanctuary. "We've never seen anything like it before."

At least four animals have died from the
illness out of a total of 60 living in Lola Ya Bonobo reserve. The 40-hectare
forest sanctuary is just outside of the capital city of Kinshasa and houses bonobos orphaned by the
bush meat trade.

A flu outbreak raced through the human
population of Kinshasa
in February, and Woods suspects sanctuary visitors spread the illness to the
animals. "They get 30,000 Congolese visitors a year and most of them are school
children," she says.